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2009 GARY FISHER ROSCOE
Gary Fisher's new bike this year is the 5.5 inch Roscoe. It might look like your average 140mm bike, but this new ride is anything but average. Stapled as their new light weight, all mountain bike, the Roscoe weighs in at 28 lbs. with their build kit and it has some suspension and geometry tweaks that set this bike apart from the rest.
DRCV - DUAL RATE CONTROL VALVE
This Fisher/Fox collaboration is an attempt to give an air shock the same linear spring curve that we are used to from plush coils. The Fox RP23 is given two air chambers that are fed equally by a single air valve like you are used to seeing on standard RP23's. During the first 40% of your travel, you are only using the primary chamber. Once you break that 40% threshold, you are using both chambers equally to prevent the ramping up effect that is apparent in normal air shocks. Fox and Fisher claim that this creates a more linear spring curve that we see in coil shocks, but at the weight and with the tune-ability of an air shock. I haven't had the chance to ride one of these sleds, but the idea is interesting.
FOX TALAS 32 RP24 15QR
It looks like a standard Fox Talas 140 15QR from the outside, but with closer inspection you realize that this is a different animal. The steerer tube is the new tapered design that is 1.5" at the crown and 1-1/8" at the top bearing. The thought here is to get the stiffness of a 1.5" headtube at the 1-1/8" weight. It is a proven fact that tapered fit designs are more secure but this does raise some replacement part issues as the industry tries to catch up. Internally, this Fox fork gets a RP24 damping system that brings the ProPedal feature of the Fox rear shocks to the fork. Instead of the conventional lockout lever on the right fork leg, you know have a lever that controls the 2 position ProPedal. This fork also gets the Genesis 2.0 geometry (46mm offset) and the new controversial 15mm QR thru axle.
THE ROSCOE FRAME
The Roscoe frame uses flattened bell top and down tubes which equals a stiffer overall frame. Like I said before, it also takes on the new Genesis 2.0 geometry that Fisher claims improves slow speed steering without compromising stability on downhills. The 46mm offset keeps the longer wheelbase in tact while quickening up the steering. I have had some experience on a Genesis Fisher and it comes pretty close to its claims, but it is still not as stable downhill as the 5 inch travel frames with slacker head angles. The Roscoe is also sporting the new Trek AVP (Active Pivot Design) that, according to Trek, keeps braking fully active under all conditions.
Overall, the bike looks pretty solid. Hopefully they have fully resolved their rear end reliability issues because if this frame is going to perform like they claim...it is going to see some heavy use by its riders. I am going to be very interested to see how these new suspension tweaks actually play out on the trail. It is one thing to claim all of these enhancements, but it is quite another to actually be able to tell a difference while riding. I really like the tapered steerer tube/head tube, but I don't like what it does to the industry as another standard to operate off of. We are already seeing the uproar that the 15mm TA is causing, and this will just add fuel to the fire.
Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on one of these soon for a review. The ideas are interesting.
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